Schmidt: 'Mack was probably the standout Australian player on the field'

Joe Schmidt concedes that unfortunately for the Wallabies, “the standout Australian player” from Saturday’s Quilter Nations Series 46-19 defeat to Ireland wasn’t wearing gold, with Mack Hansen stealing the show in a green jersey.

Canberra-born Hansen represented Australia U20s in 2018 before debuting for the ACT Brumbies across multiple seasons. The outside back later penned a deal with Irish club side Connacht, which led to international honours.

After touring Australia with the British & Irish Lions earlier this year, Hansen faced his countrymen again, named to start at fullback for Ireland. The 27-year-old opened the scoring in the fifth minute before repeating those heroics with an identical effort.

Hansen scored two incredibly similar tries by the 10th minute, which saw the home side take a 14-0 lead over the Wallabies. While the Australians hit back through John Eales Medallist Len Ikitau, Hansen’s name was back up in lights soon after.

Fly-half Sam Prendergast delivered a cross-field kick over to winger Tommy O’Brien, but it was Hansen who ended up reaping the rewards, completing a first-half hat-trick with an effort in the 27th minute.

Hansen was named the Player of the Match after carrying the ball eight times for 22 metres, scoring those three tries, and covering the backfield well as Schmidt noted post-game initially with a smile.

“I thought he was super. His experience showed to the fore, I thought,” Schmidt told reporters.

“There’s probably a bit of a lack of experience in our back three. Maybe there’s probably only 30-odd caps between the three of them.

“Mack, he knows the game well. He’s got good support though. James Lowe and young Tommy O’Br is an excellent player as well.

“Unfortunately Mack was probably the standout Australian player on the field.

“I think he’s got a great skillset and he’s such a great competitor. He got into the kick contest really well, covered the backfield well, and those are the aspects of a fullback that you need to have covered well.”

Hansen’s third score saw Ireland regain control as they extended their advantage to 12 points, but the Wallabies made it a one-score game just before the break, with James O’Connor converting a Fraser McReight try.

Only five points separated the teams at the break but the Irish stormed home with 25 points in the second term. That was Ireland’s highest-ever score against Australia, and the Wallabies’ seventh defeat from nine Tests.

The Wallabies shocked the British & Irish Lions in Sydney and the Springboks in Johannesburg four months ago, but they’ve only managed to beat Los Pumas and Japan’s Brave Blossoms since.

“That was a fresher, more complete team at the time [against the Springboks]. We don’t have massive strength and depth yet. I think that’s a little bit of a slow burn and it has built from the ground up,” Schmidt explained.

“I think there were 19 debutants last year in an effort to try and build a broader base of international players but the accumulation of experience through that broader group is still in its genesis really.

“At the same time, we’ve got to stay competitive at the top end. I know I’ve mentioned it, before around having a short-term focus and a long-term vision. It’s getting that balance.

“As we start to get toward the end, we’re probably disappointed with some of the end games that we’vebecauseecuase it was something we took real pride in.

“We’ve won a few games at the death coming back and even the Ellis Park one being down early on in the game and coming back and winning it well.

“As things accumulate with players having travelled a lot, played a lot. We’re just not as competitive in that last quarter.

“Today, I think with 20 minutes go we’re down 22-12. We’re still right in that game. I think we had that five-metre lineout, we just couldn’t quite get the execution and accuracy right.

“There was some good pressure from Ireland but at the same time our execution wasn’t good enough… they really controlled the flow of the game and they controlled that space in behind and the aerial battle.

“We know we’re going to get more of that from France next week. They tend to kick a lot. I think everyone kicks a lot now with the way the game is set up.”